


Breaking Into My Heart Like a Crime Scene

by reversecow



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, M/M, Pining, i guess, ill say admiration, this isnt long enough for pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:00:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27976227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reversecow/pseuds/reversecow
Summary: “Something evil, huh?,” he asks, leaning on the doorframe. Michael jumps slightly and turns around, smiling when he sees Ashton but then wagging a finger seriously after a moment.“This is serious, Ashton,” he says solemnly. “Someone is trying to…” he pauses for dramatic effect before finishing his sentence with a hand on his heart, “steal Christmas.”-------------------------------------------------------------------Michael loves Christmas. His roommate, Ashton, loves him. When trees from a local Christmas tree lot start going missing, Michael decides it’s time to save Christmas. In the midst of a poorly orchestrated holiday-themed stakeout, Ashton finds himself confessing more than he ever meant to.
Relationships: Michael Clifford/Ashton Irwin
Comments: 7
Kudos: 25
Collections: 5 Seconds of Ficmas





	Breaking Into My Heart Like a Crime Scene

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Villains by Mainland

5:02 pm

_ Mikey: There’s something evil afoot… _

Ashton stares down at his phone, sipping his coffee slowly and shaking his head. Michael’s always had a flair for the dramatic; this evil could be anything from the devil to a slightly ugly pair of socks. He spins a little in his office chair, smiling to himself. 

When he’d moved in with Michael, he’d barely known him. Just as Calum’s friend he’d hung out with in group settings a few times. When his lease on his old place had ended, he was desperate to find a new one fast, and Michael was conveniently looking for a roommate. Seven months later and it's the best decision Ashton has ever made. 

Michael is loud, and admittedly too tidy sometimes for Ashton’s liking, and he always smells like peaches and cinnamon. Michael has too many stuffed animals and they all have stupid names. Michael’s favorite food is mac and cheese with ranch dressing and he wears the oldest combat boots Ashton’s ever seen, every day. Ashton’s been in love with him since the second day they moved in together, and it’s not easing up one iota. 

Of course, he’s never told Michael this, only kept it to himself all these months and been content, or at least mostly content, to just sit back and adore Michael quietly. 

His work day is over, it has been for a few minutes, so he stretches and gets up, gathering his things from his desk and smiling at the small picture frame he has propped up next to his computer of himself and Michael a few weeks before Halloween this year, at the pumpkin patch picking out the perfect pumpkins to carve. They’re wearing autumnal sweaters and smiling at the camera, looking every bit the perfect couple, the only issue being that they aren’t one. At least not yet. 

Ashton’s never been a huge holiday person, thinking of them more like chores than anything, but Michael  _ loves  _ them. He’d gone all out on decorations for Halloween and Thanksgiving, a holiday neither of them had even celebrated during childhood. Ashton could barely move after the dinner he’d made them and their friends that night. So of course, Michael is behaving no differently for Christmas- the halls are decked, the windows are full of lights and Michael’s made enough Christmas cookies to feed an army. 

Ashton makes the cold walk home quickly, eager to get back to his cozy apartment and his sweet, beautiful roommate. He stops for a moment to look in a shop window at a display of gingerbread houses, pondering whether to get a kit for Michael. He decides to do it- but not yet. Apparently, there’s something wrong, and if Michael needs help, he wants to be there as quickly as possible. 

  
  


\----------

  
  


Ashton gets home within ten minutes, as usual, and while the apartment looks vacant, he can smell sugar cookies in the air and hear rustling coming from Michael’s bedroom. He sets his things down in the entry and heads for Michael’s door, which is slightly ajar. Knocking twice on the doorframe and pushing it open slightly further, he sees Michael sitting on the floor, surrounded by papers and scribbling something into a small spiral notebook. 

“Something evil, huh?,” he asks, leaning on the doorframe. Michael jumps slightly and turns around, smiling when he sees Ashton but then wagging a finger seriously after a moment. 

“This is serious, Ashton,” he says solemnly. “Someone is trying to…” he pauses for dramatic effect before finishing his sentence with a hand on his heart, “steal Christmas.”

Ashton raises his eyebrows at the declaration. “The whole holiday?”

Michael nods, and Ashton suppresses a giggle at this. It’s honestly not unexpected, coming from Michael. As long as Ashton’s known him, he’s never once in his life been boring. This isn’t the first time Ashton’s come home to Michael in the middle of an elaborate project or scheme, and he’s certain it won’t be the last. 

“The whole holiday,” Michael confirms. “Specifically trees from the lot on 5th and Jefferson.”

Ashton squints, trying to remember the name of the lot Michael’s talking about. “Santa’s Snowy Corner?”

Michael nods again, scribbling in his notebook and dotting an  _ i _ before turning to look at Ashton again. “Yes sir.”

Ashton walks into the room now, stepping carefully over the papers on the floor and landing on the bed, grabbing a stuffed elephant and tucking it under his chin as he lies on his stomach. “And how did you come to this conclusion? Have you broken into some top secret police files? Surely a case like this would be well guarded,” he says, feigning a serious expression. 

Michael pouts and Ashton pouts back. Michael narrows his eyes. “Don’t mock this. Every night I drive home after it closes and every morning before it opens there are significantly less trees. Someone is taking them, this is serious!” 

Ashton shakes his head in regret. “My apologies. Do we have any suspects?”

Michael nods his head wisely. “The Grinch. Possibly Scrooge. Or…..” he raises his eyebrows and gestures to the wall behind him. Ashton follows his pointed finger to where there are dozens of photos taped to the wallpaper and laughs.

“Mike, what would Luke do with multiple Christmas trees?” he asks incredulously, “besides, these pictures aren’t even connected to anything with the tree farm. You’ve just connected them to each other with yarn.”

Michael sniffs. “I wouldn’t know, but I think anyone who could fast forward through the title credits of Freaky Friday on movie night doesn’t deserve my trust. Besides, it’s the ones without motive you have to look out for.”

“Is it?” 

\----------

Ashton’s flipping his third plain pancake in the pan when Michael walks into the kitchen the next morning. It’s perfect timing, Ashton always makes his first so he can add chocolate chips to the batter for the second half. Michael likes them better that way. He always says there’s no better way to start the day than with a boatload of sugar and a dimpled chef serving it to him. 

When Ashton’s finished mixing in the chips and spooning batter into the pan, he finally looks over at Michael. He’s wearing reindeer footie pajamas and his hair is sticking in every direction. He just about melts Ashton’s heart when he smiles in greeting and plops down on a barstool. 

“We need a stakeout,” he announces in a rough, still sleepy but very determined voice. 

Ashton hums in acknowledgement while he flips Michael’s pancakes, setting a plate in front of him in preparation along with the butter and syrup. “For the trees.”

“Yes, Ashton, for the trees,” Michael insists. 

Ashton turns to him, ready to tell him that it seems like overkill to plan a stakeout for a bunch of possibly stolen Christmas trees, but as always, he’s too soft when it comes to Michael and he sighs in resignation, sliding Michael’s pancakes onto his plate and digging into his own now cold breakfast. He just looks too cute to say no to, snuggled up in his onesie, eyes full of resolve.

“You’re right, Ashton agrees. “We definitely do. What does this stakeout entail?”

Michae beams at him, spreading butter and syrup over his already too-sweet pancakes and taking a bite. “Well, obviously we need to stay overnight and keep close tabs on the lot,” he says through a mouthful of pancake. 

Ashton nods, sipping his coffee delicately. “Obviously.”

“And we should get supplies,” Michael continues, still shovelling food into his mouth, the excitement of having a heist partner seeming to fuel his appetite. 

Ashton squints at him. “What supplies?”

\----------

“Apple cider? To warm us up?”

Ashton turns to Michael, who’s holding up a jug of cider, eyes full of hope. They’re walking through the aisles of Target, stocking up on supplies for the stakeout. Unfortunately, as good as Michael is at deciding on plans for the two of them, he’s not good at actually planning. His list of necessary supplies for the trip consisted of ‘whatever we think we might need when we get to Target!’. 

Thus, Ashton finds himself wandering aimlessly through the store with Michael, suggesting pointless things like a salt shaker shaped like a dog, or a make-your-own slime kit. Michael shoots down every proposition with a glare and a stern reminder to Ashton to stick to the mission- until he finds something he wants and spends minutes fawning over it before shaking his head and walking away resolutely. It’s adorable, if Ashton’s honest, and that’s why he was fine loitering in the linen section while Michael felt how soft a floral blanket was for far too long. 

“Necessary stakeout supplies, huh?” Ashton says, nodding to the cider Michael’s holding. 

“We’re not good tree thief catchers if we’re frozen to death,” Michael explains. 

Ashton supposes it’s a valid enough argument. Especially because Michael didn’t bundle up properly before they left home, and he’s shivering slightly where he stands, even indoors. Ashton smiles at him for a moment before taking off his own down jacket and carefully putting it over Michael’s shoulders, rubbing his arms to warm him up and kissing his nose gently. 

Michael blushes a delicate pink, looking quite pleased but a bit shy. “You don’t have to-”

Ashton puts a finger to his lips, “You’re no good for getting stakeout supplies if you’re frozen to death.”

Michael rolls his eyes fondly, shaking his head a bit and swaying on his feet slightly, a little further into Ashton’s space, and Ashton thinks for a moment,  _ maybe… _

“Do you think we need a flashlight?” 

Ashton blinks. Michael backs away and disappears three aisles down. Ashton sighs and follows him to where he’s looking at a row of flashlights of various strengths and sizes. 

“We have phone flashlights,” he reminds Michael, who pouts. 

“That’s not very professional,” he argues with Ashton. 

“Neither are we.”

Michael sighs sadly. Ashton shakes his head and picks up the cheapest flashlight. Michael beams at him. 

In the end, there’s not much they can think of to get other than the flashlight and the cider. They leave the store with both and Michael seems pleased with their haul, considering he also picked up a pack of holiday cookie flavored chapsticks that he’s very excited to try. He unwraps them all in the car on the way home. He smells them all, chattering and rating the scents on which one smells the most real. Ashton stares resolutely ahead at the road and tries not to think about how the gingerbread one would taste on Michael’s lips. 

\----------

It takes a few days til they can go to the tree lot overnight. Their work schedules don’t line up quite a lot of the time and Michael is antsy, bombarding Ashton with theories of rogue Christmas bandits and tinsel demons as soon as he gets home. He texts Ashton during the day with updates on the tree lot and sends him the confirmed amount of trees every night and in the morning. 

4:43 pm

_ Mikey: maybs it’s the mayor...trying to create mass hysteria so he can control us thru fear  _

Ashton sets his coffee on his desk and looks down at his phone, shaking his head and smiling. 

4:44 pm

**Ashton: I think for mass hysteria to happen, the masses would have to care. You’re the only one in the world paying attention to this.**

4:46 pm

_ Mikey: dont u care? _

Ashton sighs. Truthfully, he doesn’t care much about this supposed tree thief, but he cares about Michael, more than he’d like to ever admit, and he’ll be damned if he lets Michael think he doesn’t. 

4:46 pm

**Ashton: Fine. One of the only two people who care.**

4:46 pm

_ Mikey: then the world cares _

4:36 pm

_ Mikey: bc u are my world <3 _

Ashton refuses to blush at this, clearing his throat and hovering his thumbs over his keyboard, trying desperately to think of a response, a hard thing to do when his brain feels like mush. Before he can, though, Michael saves him the trouble. 

4:47 pm

_ Mikey: it could still be luke, u know. he been lookin shifty. and he went to the bathroom for way too long the other night, could have been stealing trees _

4:48 pm

**Ashton: He’s lactose intolerant and you put dairy in the meat sauce.**

4:56 pm

_ Mikey: luke-tose intolerant _

Ashton chuckles, setting down his phone and lying his head on his desk. It’s going to be a long stakeout. 

\----------

“Tonight’s the night!” Michael sings gleefully, dancing around the kitchen while Ashton packs their snacks up in a reusable grocery bag.

Ashton shakes his head. “I can’t believe we’re actually doing this. And I can’t believe you convinced me to put this on.” He gestures down his body, where he’s wearing elf printed footie pajamas, red to match the green ones Michael has on. He’d asked for green, originally, if he had to wear them, but Michael insisted the green went with his own eyes better, and Ashton couldn’t argue with that logic. 

Michael stops his dancing to grab a baby carrot, biting into it and wagging the remaining bit at Ashton. “Don’t you want to save Christmas, Ash?”

“It doesn’t feel endangered to me,” Ashton counters. “You need all these little cereal packs?”

Michael frowns. “One per hour, I told you.” He hops up on the countertop, popping the rest of his carrot in his mouth. “And tell that to all the kidnapped trees that could be taken home to a nice family and covered in tinsel, but instead are taken to solitary confinement to rot away like Thomas Silverstein!”

Ashton furrows his brows. “Who?”

Michael shrugs, chewing absentmindedly. “I watched something on YouTube last night. It’s beside the point.” He swings his legs. “Are we about ready?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Ashton says. “Hey, you need a scarf.” He gestures to Michael’s neck, which, at the moment, is very bare. 

“No, I don’t,” Michael argues. 

“You’ll catch a cold if you don’t bring one,” Ashton tells him, holding out a scarf he’d set on the counter earlier for this very reason. “Please? For Me?”

Michael sighs, taking it from him and wrapping it around his neck. “Fine.”

Ashton beams at him. “Thanks.” He leans in, kissing Michael’s nose quickly and adjusting his scarf a little bit. 

Michael looks at him with a bit of an odd expression. “You know, I’ve never had a friend who did that as much as you.”

Ashton panics for a second before Michael smiles and leans forward, kissing his nose too. “Got you back!”

He smiles and turns around, rummaging through the snack bag to make sure everything is accounted for and muttering about the flashlight. Ashton smiles to himself, the memory of Michael’s lips on his nose warming him up from the inside out. 

\----------

They’re three hours into the stakeout. They’ve exhausted twenty questions and I Spy and are now just talking about their weeks, munching on Froot Loops and trying to decide if the loops have different flavors or not. Michael’s telling Ashton a story about his coworker and Ashton’s almost completely listening, finding it distracting just how cute Michael looks bundled up in his down jacket and scarf, his cheeks pink and his eyes drooping slightly from lack of sleep. 

“So then Calum tells me Zack threw it away!” Michael tells him, indignant. “The entire cake!”

Ashton gasps, even though he’d only been half listening. “What? No!”

Michael shakes his head, popping a froot loop into his mouth. “I know! Just because he doesn’t eat sugar he ruined it for everyone else.”

“He should be fired,” Ashton tells him. 

Michael nods solemnly. “If I had the jurisdiction…”

It’s silent for a minute while Ashton contemplates what he’s about to say, running it over in his head a few times.

“Michael?”

Michael raises his eyebrows. “Ashton Irwin?”

Ashton smiles and rolls his eyes a little. “Why- don’t take this the wrong way, cause I’m happy to be here with you, I really am, but why are these trees so important to you? What are we really doing here?” He’s been wondering this ever since they parked. Michael’s barely even mentioned the missing trees, just content to eat cereal and talk. 

Michael’s quiet for a moment, looking down. “I don’t know, I guess I just wanted Christmas to be perfect for us.” He shrugs. 

“For us?” Ashton questions. 

Michael shrugs again. “It’s our first Christmas together and you’ve never been big on it, I just wanted to make you love it as much as I do, and I thought if I could fix this it would like, help or something.” He sighs, looking at Ashton and scrunching his nose. “I don’t know, maybe it’s silly.”

Ashon stares at him. It warms his heart, really, thinking about Michael worrying over Ashton enjoying the holidays, as if he could be anything other than happy with Michael by his side. “It’s a little silly.”

Michael frowns, munching discontentedly on a froot loop. 

Ashton shakes his head. “Not this!” He fixes Michael with a serious look. “The fact that you think Christmas with you could be anything less than perfect.”

Michael blushes, fiddling with his tiny cereal box. 

“Michael, I might never have been a Christmas person, but I’m a you person. Christmas is going to be perfect this year no matter what, cause we’re together. That’s all I could ever ask for.”

“Oh,” Michael says softly. 

Ashton feels a little embarrassed, shifting in his seat, until Michael speaks again.

Michael furrows his brows, looking at Ashton resolutely. “Does this mean you like me?”

Alarm bells go off in Ashton’s head. It’s all he can hear, and he tries to find an answer to the question that isn’t just a resounding ‘ _ yes, yes, yes, of course, yes _ ’, but he’s drawing a blank. 

“Uh….” is all he can manage, blinking at Michael. 

Michael huffs, crossing his arms. “Cause I’ve been in love with you since June and I just wanted to check cause that’s what it sounded like but you also could have meant like friends and if that’s true that’s  _ fine _ and I take it back but just in case I thought I’d ch-”

Ashton puts up a finger to his mouth, grinning, the alarm bells retreating to a dull hum in the back of his mind, replaced by an excited band of chirping butterflies. 

“ _ Really?”  _ he asks Michael, grinning ear to ear. 

Michael huffs again, glaring at Ashton. “Don’t mock me, how many times do I have to tell you…”

“I would never!” Ashton protests, crossing his heart. 

Michael continues glaring at him, raising his eyebrows in disbelief. 

Ashton sighs. “Okay, I would, but not now.” He takes a deep breath, mustering up the courage to say what he’s been wanting to say for months now. “Of course I love you.” Michael’s expression softens into one of gentle curiosity, fluttering his eyelashes slightly. Ashton smiles. “Look at me. I’m at a stolen Christmas tree stakeout wearing elf footie pajamas at 3 am. He gestures down at his outfit. “I love you too much, probably.”

Michael’s grinning now, looking down at his lap. “Oh. Well, that’s good.” He looks over to Ashton, blinking curiously and biting his lip slightly, his eyes travelling down to Ashton’s mouth and staying there. 

Ashton takes a deep breath, can feel his hands trembling on his lap, and he raises one up to brush against Michael’s cheek softly.”Yeah, it is,” he whispers, glancing back up to Michael’s eyes, which are hooded and hopeful, before he leans in to kiss him.

Kissing Michael feels like warmth, and safety, and relief. He tastes like froot loops and he kisses back like he’s been dying to, like he’s wanted this almost as long as Ashton has. His lips are soft and so sweet and he makes little noises into Ashton’s mouth that he wants to capture and keep in a jar like fireflies. Ashton wants to freeze frame this moment forever, keep Michael’s lips on his until he can’t breathe anymore, because this would be a perfect way to die- 

There’s a rustling from the tree lot. Michael breaks away from Ashton slowly. “Did you hear that?

“Nope, probably just the wind,” Ashton tells him, leaning in to kiss him again, but Michael puts a finger to his chin, redirecting him so the kiss lands on his cheek and narrows his eyes, scanning the parking lot for movement. Ashton sighs, resting his head on Michael’s shoulder, resigning himself to reserving more kisses for later on. 

Suddenly, Michael gasps, pointing to a dark corner of the lot where a small flashlight just flickered on. “ _ The bandit!” _

Ashton snorts but raises his eyebrows, bemused. “So you were right.”

“I know!” Michael says excitedly, moving to open the car door. 

Ashton stops him with a hand on his shoulder. “You’re just going to confront him?” HIs mind flashes to a scenario of Michael in his little elf printed footie pajamas, brandishing a tiny box of Corn Pops as a defense weapon against a seven foot tall tree thief with brass knuckles. 

Michael nods, opening the door. “What else would I do?” He hops out of the car and struts towards the flashlight. Ashton stumbles out of the car, following him quickly, prepared to protect him with everything in his footie-pajama clad body, but when he gets a closer look at who they’re up against, he slows down, trailing behind Michael. The man is old, probably in his seventies, and his build is slight. It’s clearly taking him quite a bit of energy to lift the small tree he has in his hands. 

Michal stomps over to the man, arms crossed. “Hey!”

The man looks over and smiles, he’s missing a back tooth and his eyes twinkle a bit when he sees them. His smile is friendly and he doesn’t seem worried at being discovered, which makes Ashton think it’s very likely he’s not doing anything wrong. 

“Hello!” the man greets them in a friendly tone. 

Michael crosses his arms. “Hello.”

The man carefully sets the tree down and wipes his gloved hands on his rough jeans. “Can I help you?”

Michael nods emphatically, stomping his pajama foot on the ground. “Yes, you can! Why have you been taking these trees? What kind of Christmas thief are you?” He raises his arms in the air. “Have you no heart?”

“What?” the man asks, his brow wrinkling in what looks like confusion.

“You heard him!” Ashton says, hoping his tone is more polite than Michael’s. 

The man laughs slightly. “My name is John, I own this lot. I take the dying trees out at night so the lot looks more presentable in the morning. “He gestures to the one in his hands, which, now that Ashton looks at it more carefully, is clearly dying. “Once the needles are halfway brown, nobody wants them.”

Ashton can fel Michael shift next to him and he looks over. Michael is frowning, looking sadly at the dying tree. “Yes they do!” Michael protests. “I do!”

The man frowns. “Well, you can have this one for free, if you’d like,” he points to the dying tree. “Otherwise it goes in the chipper.”

Michael gasps, turning to Ashton with hopeful eyes. “We have to.”

It’s truly a dead tree but Michael looks so insistent and Ashotn’s lips are still warm from his, and he speaks before he thinks. 

“We’ll take it.”

  
  


\----------

“It’s perfect,” Michael sighs. 

Their dead tree is decorated, there are needles everywhere and plenty of ornaments have fallen off due to the branches not being strong enough, but with a string of twinkle lights and a dash of Michael’s holiday spirit, it almost looks like a real Christmas tree. And with Michael in his arms, warm and snuggly and beautiful, Ashton couldn’t ask for anything more. He kisses the side of Michael’s head, right above his ear. 

“Perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy 5 seconds of ficmas! Make sure you've read the first in the series and keep tuning in for more to come! :) Comments are so appreciated, let me know what you thought!


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